


What if Bonnie had been Ben?

by pegasusrose99



Category: Numb3rs
Genre: Angst, Episode Rewrite: s04e11 Breaking Point, Kidnapping, M/M, Reporter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-04
Updated: 2016-03-04
Packaged: 2018-05-24 15:59:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6158911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pegasusrose99/pseuds/pegasusrose99
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After an investigative reporter named Ben Parks goes missing, Colby Granger goes to extremes to find him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What if Bonnie had been Ben?

**Author's Note:**

> Notes: This is a shorter rewrite of the episode Breaking Point (of Numb3rs, of course) but imagines that the missing reporter, Bonnie Parks, is instead a man named Ben Parks. Because reasons. 
> 
> Okay because 1) there should be more gay romance on screen. 2) Colby needs a love life. 3) The best relationship he’s ever had has been with David Sinclair… and while I kinda ship them, they aren’t my OTP. 4) Wouldn’t it be nice to see Colby pining after a guy? I mean, come on. You know you’d like it. 
> 
> Also, I’ve watched the episode a few times over the years but not religiously. So, quotes were take from an online source ([Numb3rs Episode Scripts - s04e11](http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=numb3rs&episode=s04e11)). The original storyline has been modified to fit my story. Thanks.

“This reporter, Ben Parks has been missing. He’s taken on everyone in the past, from Mexican Mafia, crooked Border Patrol agents, bad cops, judges, mayors. So now we have to find out where he is, if he’s still alive, and who took him.” Don gives the rundown to his team, as Charlie walks into the office, offering to help. 

As Charlie outlines his asymmetric threat assessment, David and Colby head to Ben’s office to talk to his boss. Perhaps they can find what he was working on. His office is surprisingly sparse with very few knickknacks. Colby walks around the office, getting a feel for the occupant and notices that there are a few awards on a display case, alongside a mug for the 101st Airborne. Colby mentions that he used to bunk with some of them in Afghanistan.

“That mug was Ben’s younger brother’s. He was killed in Iraq a few months ago. IED” His boss, a woman named Judy Turner tells them, “Ben’s parents died a few months after he graduated from college. His brother, Carl, was still in high school. Ben’s always been secretive. I didn’t know much about him.” She turns to the David. “I’m sorry but Ben never shared anything while he was investigating.”

“What about a computer? He have a laptop maybe he takes with him to work?” Colby asks, paused at the corner of the room.

Judy shakes her head, “Ben doesn't use computers. He doesn't trust that they are secure.”

When David finds a blank notepad with indentations on the desk, he and Colby take their leave, hoping that their lab can recover some of the data on the paper. 

After Charlie gets a scare from the kidnappers who run him off the road and shoot at him, Don’s team is working extra hard to find the people who’ve done this. Don and Colby head to Ben’s place, hoping to find a lead there. It’s as sparsely furnished as his office. Neither of them see anything. But while Don heads back to the office, Colby asks to stay behind. He’s got a feeling that there is more to Ben that everyone is missing, and he is determined to find it. But there’s something more driving Colby. He’s got this feeling in his gut, a need to protect Ben, to help save him. 

Colby finds a few of the unedited tapes from some of Ben’s other documentaries, and can’t stop himself from watching them. There’s something about Ben’s intensity, his smile, the way he laughs with the cameraman, or lifts a hand to run his fingers through his hair to keep the slightly shaggy locks out of his eyes. At one point on the tape he mispronounces a name. The deep throaty chuckle when Ben realizes what he’s done, along with the dimples that appear when he smiles hit Colby deep in his chest. Ben looks so focused, bright and caring, but with a hint of pain hiding behind green eyes. Colby wants to see that smile in real life. Colby wants to rescue him. 

So it’s Colby who finds out that Ben gets two power bills delivered to his condo, one of which leads them to an address in the warehouse district. Don’s team head out in full SWAT gear, and manage to apprehend the hired muscle who were trying to erase the track back to Richard Taylor, a developer who is undervaluing a poorer section of Los Angeles in order to make millions on a boulevard to ‘revitalize the neighborhood. Taylor is arrested along with his henchmen but the reporter is still not to be found.

Colby is going a little crazy, not being able to find Ben. Knowing that Charlie can’t work his math magic because he’s still dealing with being run off the road, he takes Charlie aside, confessing, “When I was being held on that freighter and they had me handcuffed and Lancer was sticking me with needles, there's one thing that kept me going. That was knowing that my team was coming for me. No matter how screwed up things had gotten, that you and David and Megan and Don were working hard and you were going to come through that door. The thing is, Ben Parks, he doesn't have a team. He's got nobody. And he's locked up, handcuffed, in the dark, I don't know what. But what I do know is that I want to be the one who comes through that door for him.”

Charlie admits to the terror of being run off the road, trying to think through the panic after he flees his vehicle and the armed man shooting at him. After the tears have dried, Charlie realizes that Colby was right. He can see the numbers again and it’s starting to come together. 

Through Charlie’s investigative math and the David and Colby interrogating the suspects, the team realizes that Ben is being held at a rural property owned by Taylor. When they scope out the warehouse, they can’t find Ben. Colby will not leave until they do; he knows there are no other places to search. Most of Taylor’s other properties are the purchases for the boulevard and he wouldn’t stash a kidnap victim at places the authorities know he owns. There were three other land purchases made to a subsidiary company, but two of them were only plots of land without structures. This house in the middle of nowhere is the best spot to look. 

Suddenly he hears a faint banging sound. Colby yells to shut up the SWAT team, so that everyone can listen. He realizes the banging is coming from behind a wall of pain that was not in the original plans. Two of the SWAT team move the secret door and Colby rushes to be the first one inside. 

Ben Parks is lying on his side, still wearing the green button-down and brown slacks he’d had on 3 days ago, now covered in dirt and his own blood. He’s got a gag in his mouth and there’s dried blood crusted on his temple and on his chin. But there’s a look of aggressive satisfaction as he bangs out a staccato beat with his feet on the metal walls of his temporary prison. 

Colby races to his side, “Ben! My name is Colby, FBI. You okay?” He kneels down next to the man, gently pulls him up to a sitting position and removed the gag.

“I wasn’t sure you’d hear me.” The voice that Colby has almost memorized is a little scratchy from disuse and terror, but it’s the same deep timbre.

Colby makes a note of getting him some water as he answers, “Yeah, we heard you.” Realizing that Ben’s hands are still tied together behind his back, Colby says, “Let me get that,” and reaches back and quickly cuts the length of rope with his pocket knife before gently pulling the rest away from Ben’s raw wrists. “Think you can stand up? Here. Let me give you a hand.” Colby is crouched on his haunches, his hand extended to help this man up. 

“No. I can make it. Don’t touch me.” Ben Parks, looking a little worse for wear in his tattered shirt and dirty pants, ignores Colby’s outstretched hand. Instead he shakily stands up, making his way slowly toward the exit, not even allowing any of the SWAT team to help him. 

David lays a hand on Colby’s shoulder. “I’m sure he meant was ‘thanks’, man.” When Colby just watches Ben leave the room, David drops his hand back to his side. 

Colby can only drop his head down as he hold the discarded rope and gag in his hands.

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know if I messed up or missed tags. Comments and kudos make me happy.


End file.
